Am I nuts?! RE: Upgrading to DxDP

[fourpeas]

Sorry it posted too fast!

Tell me the truth, I can take it.

My dh, dd5, ds2 and I will be headed to POP for the week. It's free dining and we decided to upgrade to the dining package from the qsdp. I should say that dh and I are "healthy" eaters (meaning quantity, LOL!) and our children subsist on very little food (aka air babies).

We love food! I mean LOVE. There are so many restaurants I want to try! I hate being tied down to just a few and missing ones my dd would love like CRT because there isn't room in my "credit budget" for doing more.

Here's where we are going...
Ohana
Akershus
Tusker House
50's Prime Time Café
1900 Park Fare
Crystal Palace

Here's where I also want to try...
Le Cellier
Mama Mia (Fantasmic package)
San Angel Inn
CRT (again)
Yak & Yeti (again)

So, considering my kids eat air (and love the fried junk at WDW), would you upgrade?

 

[Snappy in OK]

I am working on putting together a list of restaurants for our next trip, and there are so many places we want to try, and several places we want to try again. We will have the regular dining plan, and I think we will have too much food for the week.

Another thing to think about, how much time do you want to spend for ADRs? Table service restaurants can take an hour or so each. On the other hand, if you are planning on trying several signature restaurants, it may be well worth it. I think you need to look at where you are planning on dining, do you want to take that much time (for multiple TS dining experiences in a day) away from exploring the park, and determine if it is what you want to do.

Good luck!

 

[stitchlover]

The previous poster had a good point. How long are you going to be there? How much time do you want to spend in restaurants?

After 5 years of going to Disney we have discovered a pattern that we now take into account when we book dining. If we have a scheduled meal for breakfast (i.e., Chef Mickey, Crystal Palace) my family is going to want a sit down dinner. On our 3rd trip we realized this is a pattern for us and we now make sure on those days we have two TS meals planned.

When we go to Disney we are onsite for 10 days. So we don't mind spending the time sitting in a restaurant twice a day 3-4 times. I think you have to decide what you think will work for your family. We generally do the basic dining plan but every year I tell my husband we should do DxDP because I think we would break even!

Good luck with whatever you decide and have a WONDERFUL trip!

 

[shawnh199]

We do the deluxe plan - booked for May 2011 and did it back in Dec 2009. I loved it and so did DH and DD6 and DD2 (ages in 2009).

We did a character breakfast at the parks each morning (before rope drop so we got up early and fueled up for all those rides and all that walking). We ate a later lunch (1-2pm). The girls usually took a nap in the restaurant. It's great to be able to rest/take a break in an air conditioned restaurantand eat a nice meal. Then we go back to riding rides/watching parades/etc. We eat dinner around 7-8pm (sometimes later with grabing a good snack like a turkey leg). I don't know about your kids, but my girls are used to later dinners/later nights. Once again, it's a nice time to take a break and eat a good meal. If the park is closed, we head back to the hotel and swim before showering and getting ready for bed. Then we do it all again the next morning - bright and early!!

If you do it right - like eating breakfast before the park opens and eating at or near the park you are going to for the day - you really don't miss out on that much park time. If you eat close to or in the park, you don't have all the travel time it would take to get from place to place. Other than Ohana, our meals didn't last much more than an hour - if that. Be sure to take care of your check early on in your meal because it takes a while for the waiter to go back and forth with the receipt/dining plan receipt/credit card receipt if needed for extras or tip. It really makes a difference if you are trying to make rope drop in the morning but can save you a good 10-15 minutes at any place.

Yes, it is a lot of food - but nobody said you have to clean your plate, unless you want to! Well, they do say that at 50's Prime Time, but you get the idea!

Whatever you decide, have an awesome trip and enjoy the food!

 

[baler31]

It is simply too much food for our family. Even the regular DDP is too much food for us. We prefer to spend our funds on the hotel and club level. We eat breakfast at the resort CL every morning except one that we book a character breakfast for. We prefer eating breakfast CL to restaurants as it is lighter fare. Also, we can run before we eat and still easily make rope drop.

Also, we simply don't want to spend that much time every day. I will say many years ago we enjoyed the food more and did spend a little more time but these 1TS is plenty and some days we don't even do that. We do enjoy one or two nice signature restaurants on each trip. Also, we rarely eat dessert so the plan does not work for us at all.

It really comes down to how you and your family eat but from what you have said I suspect that you are already second guessing your decision based on that. Only you will know what is right for your family.

 

[catne]

I see you're planning on going in January 2011...have you tried to get these additional reservations before you pay for the extra plan? Not sure you'll get all those choices you've listed, well, in particular Le Cellier is probably already all booked up, and Mama Melrose (I think that's what you meant for Fantasmic...there is no "Mama Mia"...that's a song, lol.) Anyway, the package dinners for Fantasmic book up within a few days of availability, which would have been a couple of months ago.

As for how much time...we find that most of the table service restaurants don't take much longer than waiting in line at counter service, and then finding a table, eating, etc. During January, the crowd levels in the parks are generally very low, so you'll be amazed how quickly you get all your favorite attractions done. The only suggestion I'd have is to check park closing times & schedule dinner after park closing.

 

[guitarob]

We love the DxDP. But, instead of cramming 3 meals a day into the trip we'll usually just get a snack for lunch and do a signature restaurant for dinner.

 

[hdmichael]

Because our trips tend to be at least seven days and we like the signature restaurants, deluxe works for us. We often get dessert to go and put it in the refrigerator. We do either an early breakfast and early dinner OR a later lunch and later dinner. We love the break that comes with a sit down meal. For us, the final reason we like deluxe is that we prefer appetizers to dessert. When I crunch the numbers in both dollars and time, deluxe works for us. It does not work for everyone. As for reservations, I just made reservations two weeks ago for October and, except for LeCellier, I got all of our reservations including a fantasmic package.

 

[ms mouse]

It really depends on your trip. We go every year and dont do comando. We enjoy the break of sitting down having a nice meal, talking together and planning the rest of the day. We dont like counter service and we like doing a signature at night. Yes it is to much food but last year we didnt do the dining plan and I kept our receipts. Often I only ate an appetizer as my meal and we will still save money on the Deluxe plan. We will just try things we want try. It does take some extra time but for us it is part of the disney experience.

 

[MylilTink]

We're going on our first trip in a little over 2 weeks and we upgraded to the deluxe dining because DH didn't want to worry about food budget or TS budget while on vacation.

We have a dinner booked for CRT so that took 6 TS credits and the rest was planned for breakfasts, late lunch, late dinner.

Our plan is to just enjoy ourselves. We know we're not going to ride every ride or see every parade... besides, it gives us a reason to come back in the future.

 

[Sleeping Becca]

With the restaurants you are looking at, you may be better off getting the regular dining plan and just paying OOP for some of your choices. You may also consider making a few of your reservations for lunches instead of dinners.

The only time I'd consider doing the DxDP is if I wanted to eat at signatures every night, 3 TS meals a day is a real time suck.

 

[tsmack78]

I will NOT go to Disney without upgrading to the Deluxe Dining. Myself and DH like to eat also and my kids love fried stuff to, so we all get our fix. Also the dining at Disney is a hole other experince. That is great I may add. I do not think it is to much food. If you do character meals you get the pictures, authographs, one on one with the characters and great food. It is a win win! If you would like to know all the dining we are planning on getting for our upcoming Thanksgiving trip let me know and I will send you the list. Go for it!

Sorry it posted too fast!

Tell me the truth, I can take it.

My dh, dd5, ds2 and I will be headed to POP for the week. It's free dining and we decided to upgrade to the dining package from the qsdp. I should say that dh and I are "healthy" eaters (meaning quantity, LOL!) and our children subsist on very little food (aka air babies).

We love food! I mean LOVE. There are so many restaurants I want to try! I hate being tied down to just a few and missing ones my dd would love like CRT because there isn't room in my "credit budget" for doing more.

Here's where we are going...
Ohana
Akershus
Tusker House
50's Prime Time Café
1900 Park Fare
Crystal Palace

Here's where I also want to try...
Le Cellier
Mama Mia (Fantasmic package)
San Angel Inn
CRT (again)
Yak & Yeti (again)

So, considering my kids eat air (and love the fried junk at WDW), would you upgrade?

 

[tsmack78]

I will NOT go to Disney without upgrading to the Deluxe Dining. Myself and DH like to eat also and my kids love fried stuff to, so we all get our fix. Also the dining at Disney is a hole other experince. That is great I may add. I do not think it is to much food. If you do character meals you get the pictures, authographs, one on one with the characters and great food. It is a win win! If you would like to know all the dining we are planning on getting for our upcoming Thanksgiving trip let me know and I will send you the list. Go for it!

Sorry it posted too fast!

Tell me the truth, I can take it.

My dh, dd5, ds2 and I will be headed to POP for the week. It's free dining and we decided to upgrade to the dining package from the qsdp. I should say that dh and I are "healthy" eaters (meaning quantity, LOL!) and our children subsist on very little food (aka air babies).

We love food! I mean LOVE. There are so many restaurants I want to try! I hate being tied down to just a few and missing ones my dd would love like CRT because there isn't room in my "credit budget" for doing more.

Here's where we are going...
Ohana
Akershus
Tusker House
50's Prime Time Café
1900 Park Fare
Crystal Palace

Here's where I also want to try...
Le Cellier
Mama Mia (Fantasmic package)
San Angel Inn
CRT (again)
Yak & Yeti (again)

So, considering my kids eat air (and love the fried junk at WDW), would you upgrade?

 

[NuJoy]

We make ADR's for restaurants in the park we will be touring each day and view the dining experiences as attractions in and of themselves. With this strategy and mindset, we never feel like we are missing park time but that we are experiencing another attraction in the park. This will be our 3rd year on the DxDDP. We love to eat at signature restaurants and I'd rather skip the counter service atmosphere (except for Flame Tree BBQ...love this place!) Also, I like having the flexibility of ordering room service if I want.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

I have been going back and forth about this and decided to just pay oop for a few of the extra meals we want to do, it is alot less than the upgrade fee from DDP (which for our week is $15 extra per adult) to DxDDP and we are going Christmas week, when both the DDP's and the restaurant menu prices are higher. But, there are only 2 of us.

One of TS restaurnat isn't on the DDP anyway, but I have a gift certificate for that restaurant.

Suzanne

 

[fourpeas]

Thanks for weighing in with me guys.

I'm so confused. The more I talk the more I waiver. I'm still thinking about it. Don't know if I can convince the hubby...but I might try. I'm going to call about the additional ADRs because it may be a moot point anyway.

And thanks to the pp who posted MAMA MELROSE not Mama Mia. I'm so dense sometimes.

 

[padawans]

Thanks for weighing in with me guys.

I'm so confused. The more I talk the more I waiver. I'm still thinking about it. Don't know if I can convince the hubby...but I might try. I'm going to call about the additional ADRs because it may be a moot point anyway.

And thanks to the pp who posted MAMA MELROSE not Mama Mia. I'm so dense sometimes.

I went through the same thing you are going through. I finally went ahead and added the dlxdp 2 weeks before we left. I don't know if I saved money or spent more money, but I will say it was nice having all our meals payed for before we left. Its great ordering whatever you wan't and not worrying about the price It's really hard to determine whether it saves you money because you eat diferently on the plan, but its nice being able to try different apps and desserts even if you only take a couple of bites. Good luck with your descision.

 

[honeydiane1953]

I love to eat also. The DDP is waaaay to much food.

 

[tami82]

Way too much food for us and believe me i LOVE food!! If you pick the right places to eat with the regular plan you would be satisfied. We stayed for 7 nights on the regular plan and ate at the best places with the best value and food and by the 5th day i really was feeling like i had it with eating. I was also getting sluggish, moody, etc..... not to mention my ankles were a swollen mess from the heat & all of the salt & bad stuff i ate. Also we did not use up alot of snack credits so bought stuff in the end, although these could have easily been used to get a muffin in the morning or something like that. We usually use our counter service for an 11:00 lunch and then eat table service around 5-6. It really is something to think about but honestly i say dont do it.
Plus it would be too much time taken up for reservations. I say start with the regular plan first and see how you like it.

 

[DisneyFamily123]

We will be doing the deluxe DDP in Dec. for the 2nd time. Here's why.

I suggest doing a cost comparison. We listed out our draft park plans for each day, then picked restaurants. We took the cost of the Plus DDP, and added in how much more additional we would pay for restaurant meals not covered by the DDP credits, the cost of refillable mugs, and some appetizers. It equaled the additional cost of going deluxe. So, why not enjoy more appetizers (we love apps), get the refillable mugs included, and enjoy more table service meals?

As far as table service taking long.... unless you are eating while walking, it still takes time to eat. And I've waited longer, much longer, in counterservice lines than waiting to be seated at a restaurant. Why not take a break and enjoy a sit down meal. Disney has many fun places to eat. And we like the signature restaurants too. Another bonus for us is DS has food allergies and it's much easier to accomodate in the restaurant than counterservice (plus we get to meet the chef before we order each time!)

We only do breakfasts that have characters, otherwise we just get the $5 pancakes from the resort and eat breakfast in the room.

You picked some great restaurants! Your young children will love the character meals. And we especially like Crystal Palace -- the food is great and kids don't mind walking away from all the fun stuff to sit in a "boring" restaurant. Ohana has a very nice character breakfast too.

Here's our dining plan just to show it's not always 3 meals a day. For 9 nights, we have 27 credits each for DH, DW and DS5. The schedule below still puts us over at 28 credits. So, we might cancel Cape May Cafe or Liberty Tree, or just pay for the least expensive breakfast.

Arrival Day 1
Crystal Palace 1:00
Flying Fish Cafe 5:50 (Signature 2 credits)

Day 2
Hollywood and Vine 9:05 (after morning EMH)
50s Prime Time 12:55
Artist Point 6:00 (Signature 2 credits)

Day 3
Coral Reef 11:30
1900 Park Fare 4:30

Day 4
Sci Fi Diner 11:20
Brown Derby 3:50 (Fantasmic Package) (Signature 2 credits)

Day 5
Cape May Cafe 9:20
Chefs de France 1:00
Le Cellier 6:15

Day 6
Tusker House Donald's Safari Breakfast 8:05
Yak and Yet 1:00
Narcoosees 7:30 (8pm fireworks) (Signature 2 credits)

Day 7
Liberty Tree 11:35
Ohana 5:10

Day 8
Biergarten 12:45
Garden Grill 6:40

Day 9
San Angel Inn 12:50
California Grill 5:45 (Signature 2 credits)

Departure Day 10
Chef Mickeys 9:55
Crystal Palace 2:00